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Missouri Compromise
Missouri became a slave state and Maine became an non-slave state to not upset the balance. -
Nat Turner Rebellion
A slave rebellion in Virginia -
Mexican-American War
A war America vs Mexico started because of a disputed boundary between the United States and Texas on the Nueces Strip. -
The Wilmot Proviso
prohibited the expansion of slavery into any territory acquired by the United States from Mexico -
Gold Rush in California
A rapid influx of fortune seekers in California that began after gold was found at Sutter's Mill in early 1848 -
Harriett Tubman and Underground Railroad
the resistance to enslavement through escape and flight, through the end of the Civil War. -
Compromise of 1850
A series of measures proposed by U.S. Senator Henry Clay and passed by the U.S. Congress to settle several issues connected to slavery and avert the threat of dissolution of the Union. -
Fugitive Slave Act
Required that slaves be returned to their owners, even if they were in a free state -
Uncle Tom’s Cabin published
A novel hoping to open reader's eyes to the realities of slavery and the humanity of enslaved people -
Bleeding Kansas
A series of violent civil confrontations in Kansas Territory, and to a lesser extent in western Missouri, between 1854 and 1859. -
Kansas-Nebraska Act
repealed the Missouri Compromise, created two new territories, and allowed for popular sovereignty -
Dred Scott V. Sanford
Supreme Court stated that enslaved people were not citizens of the United States -
Lincoln-Douglass Debates
a series of formal political debates between the challenger, Abraham Lincoln, and the incumbent, Stephen A. Douglas, in a campaign for one of Illinois' two United States Senate seats -
John Brown’s Raid on Harpers Ferry
an effort by abolitionist John Brown, from October 16 to 18, 1859, to initiate a slave revolt in Southern states by taking over the United States arsenal at Harpers Ferry, Virginia -
Presidential Election of 1860
The national outcome of the 1860 election gave Lincoln a victory in both the popular vote and the electoral vote, with just under 40 percent of the popular vote -
South Carolina Secedes from the Union
South Carolina became the first state to secede from the federal Union